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Wednesday, November 23, 2016

CARE FOR THE GARDENS WHILE YOU SHOP!

The prime holiday shopping
season is quickly approaching. Are you someone who takes advantage of the Black
Friday and Cyber Monday deals? Or do you prefer to do your holiday shopping
after the Thanksgiving weekend? Either way you can:

Thursday, November 17, 2016

A FORECAST TO BELIEVE IN

Rain, rain, rain. Then multiple weather sites predict sun for Thursday, Nov 2nd. So we grab our gardening tools and run
for it. It turns out to be the perfect day to be outdoors in the gardens. Eight
of us weed, remove litter, rake, prune, and plant in all the gardens at
Galer, Boston, and McGraw. When done we are spent, but oh, how wonderful we think the
gardens look!!

Plants we added

*Sedum Angelina *Russian Sage *Virburnum Davidii *Black-eyed Susan

*Black-twig Dogwood *Salvia *Epimedium *Rhubus groundcover

*Slowmound Mugo Pine *Hydrangea 'Pee Wee'

Thanks to super volunteers Carol Jackson, Susan Veninga,
Barbara Freeman, and Denny Bird who joined Board members Elaine Talbot, Wayne
Winder, Sheila Callahan, and Margaret Okamoto. Many thanks to Board member and
landscape designer, Kathy King, who, while not able to dig in the dirt at the
moment, selected the plants, brought them to and set them out at their chosen
garden sites, mixed and had ready the seaweed fertilizer that promotes strong
root growth, and answered questions/offered advice.

Thanks as well to Land2C Landscape Design for drafting the
planting plan and providing the plants at their wholesale price.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

PLEASE CONSIDER JOINING US ON THE BOARD

We
are looking for two new Board members who are willing, both literally and
figuratively, to get their hands dirty.

PPQA’s goal is to create and maintain a pedestrian and family-friendly, safe and vibrant main
street along Queen Anne Ave from Galer to McGraw that everyone in our community
will enjoy. To that end, we need folks who:

Consider the gardens at Galer, Boston and McGraw to be an important community asset

Will promote the organization and its streetscape projects within our community and to the City

Will help with fundraising

Will help set and carry out organizational goals and policy

Will attend monthly Board meetings and help with Board tasks

We’re especially looking for folks who, in addition to the above,
are willing and able to:

Promote the organization on social media sites

Act as the organization's bookkeeper

The time commitment averages 3-4 hours per month---more some months, less in others.

You can learn more about Picture Perfect Queen Anne here on the pages of our website and by looking through the Queen Anne Avenue Streetscape
Master Plan which guides all the work we do. The link can be found at the
bottom of the “Projects” page.

If you think you’d be interested in joining the Board and being
involved with the community, please email us at pictureperfectqa@gmail.com.
Tell us a little about yourself and the skills you would bring to the
organization. We will then set up a time to meet with you so we can get
acquainted and answer any questions you might have.

Know someone you think would be interested in joining the Board?
Please pass this information along to them.

Monday, June 27, 2016

WELCOME TO SUMMER IN THE GARDENS

The yuccas are going wild at Galer, Boston and McGraw. Do you think this could have anything to do with the perfect spring weather we've had and the care they've been given by the Vertumni crew?!? Not to mention the nutrients they've gotten from a new blanket of compost donated by Cedar Grove?For the second year, Cedar Grove has donated ten cubic yards of compost for the gardens. Their main criterion for their donation is community involvement and support. So we remain in awe of all our donors who have shown time and again how much they care about the gardens and how important they think the gardens are to the well-being and beauty of our main street. You made this donation possible.I just read that yuccas don’t always bloom every year. Ours seem to like putting on yearly shows. Go see them while the flowers are at their prime.

The
inscribed pavers are in place in the Boston Garden. We hope you’ll agree that they
add a distinctive presence while giving people a solid place to step when
entering or exiting a vehicle parked adjacent to the garden bed. We invite you
to walk the path and read what your neighbors have to say.

PPQA volunteer, Tim King, is pruning back the healthy wisteria vine
at Galer. We promised SDOT we would keep the enthusiastic vine from once again
growing up the utility line, so we cut it back three times a year.

PPQA is about more
than the gardens. We also work to keep our main street safe for pedestrians.
You may have noticed that the crosswalk striping was pretty much gone at all
three crossing areas of the Queen Anne Ave N & Galer intersection. We were especially concerned as these
crosswalks are heavily used by the children who attend St Anne’s. SDOT had this on their list
and they have restriped the crosswalks!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

A
BIG thank you to each and every one of you who donated to PPQA during the
GiveBIG event. Please know your generosity assures that the gardens will receive the water and care they'll
need to look their best this summer and fall. We are most grateful for your
support.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

GiveBIG!

On Tuesday, May 3rd, the Seattle Foundation's one day online event returns for its sixth year. We're excited that for the first time, we will be part of greater Seattle's biggest day of giving. Neighbors like you joined together to create the gardens along Queen Anne Avenue at Galer, Boston and McGraw. Please contribute to Picture Perfect Queen Anne to help keep the gardens flourishing and our main street vibrant.

Friday, April 15, 2016

WHAT A SENSATIONAL SPRING!!

Don’t you agree that this
is turning out to be a most gloriously colorful Seattle spring?!? The gardens
along Queen Anne Avenue at Galer, Boston, and McGraw are happening places.
Here’s some of what you’ll see:

·The wisteria
blooming at Galer. It’s beautiful with its delicate purple flowers trailing
along the top of the rock wall;

·Variegated yellow
and green yuccas along with the cotoneaster’s red berries providing a striking presence
alongside the Galer Stairs;

·Yarrow and Lenten
roses blooming in many of the gardens;

·Yellow daffodils
dancing in the sun under the ginkgo trees on Boston. This is Ellen’s Daffodil Garden
as it was she who expended much elbow grease digging in compacted soil to plant
the King Alfred bulbs donated by Allan Rosenthal;

·The long-awaited
donor-inscribed pavers that the Vertumni crew will be installing in the Boston
garden this Saturday morning.

People often ask whose
gardens these are and who is responsible for their upkeep. They belong to the
community and were created and are maintained by you: the residents, business owners, and property
owners ---everyone who founded, volunteers for, and donates to Picture
Perfect Queen Anne. To that end, five stones will be installed in the gardens
on Saturday-- two at Galer, two at McGraw, one at Boston--that have been
inscribed with our organization’s name and logo.

Thank you to Donna at
Mammoth Stoneworks who deftly etched all the paver and stone inscriptions.

Please, do walk by and take
a look at all that’s new and wonderful in the gardens.

Friday, March 4, 2016

First and foremost, THANK YOU for helping us meet our goals for
2015-16. Please know that per the Secretary of State’s Charitable Solicitation
Profile, Picture Perfect Queen Anne applies 97% of the donations we receive to
our mission (latest year reported: 2014). We are devoted to efficiently applying your
contributions to the Gardens along Queen Anne Avenue North.

Did you know there are two retailers that will make financial
donations to support PICTURE PERFECT QUEEN ANNE?And you won't even notice!

Bartell's also has a rewards program, the "B" Caring
Card. Simply pick up a card at any Bartell Drugs. Then register your card
and designate PICTURE PERFECT QUEEN
ANNE as the nonprofit
organization you wish to support.

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

F

EBRUARY GARDEN
HAPPENINGS

Lenten roses, those beautiful late winter bloomers, are bursting forth in the gardens at Galer and McGraw. More yarrow plants think now's their time to bloom as well. Look for their yellow flowers as you walk by the McGraw gardens. It surely feels like spring is on its way.

Ellen planted some giant King Alfred daffodil bulbs this week alongside the ginkgo trees on the Boston St side of Starbucks. A gift from Allan Rosenthal, look for them to bloom later this spring.

This is the perfect month to surround yourself with an abundance of garden color and inspiration at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, coming to the Washington State Convention Center downtown from February 17-21. With its theme, "America the Beautiful: Celebrating America's National Parks and Landmarks," the show will be grand as always.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Can you believe we’re
talking garden blooms in January?!? Actually, this photo goes back to December.
Kathy King took it because she couldn’t believe she was seeing yarrow blooming in
a garden bed in winter. Set in front of the bright, variegated yucca, this
makes for a most attractive late spring sight…in winter, of all things.

This is supposed to be the
season when growth slows while plants prepare for spring blooms. Our weather
seems to be sending mixed messages and many plants are having difficulty deciphering
whether it’s winter or spring. You just might want to take a look around in the
various garden beds along Queen Anne Ave at Galer, Boston, and McGraw and see what
unusual happenings you can spot. We hear tell daffodils, those harbingers of
spring, are already poking up. And it’s still January! Wonder what Punxsutawney
Phil will see on February 2nd.